# Midnight Oil's "Beds Are Burning" - why so popular? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 17, 2007, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midnight-oils-beds-are-burning-why-so-popular/404402 "2007-05-17T02:37:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2007, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midnight-oils-beds-are-burning-why-so-popular/404402/21 "2007-05-17T05:41:29Z")
[QUOTE=Little Nemo] For the sake of comparison, [here](http://eightiesclub.tripod.com/id225.htm) are the 100 biggest singles of 1988. [/QUOTE] That might be the answer you’re looking for; look at some of the crap on that list - Chicago, Expose, Tiffany, Richard Marx, Whitney Houston, Samantha Fox - and you can see why “Beds Are Burning” stands out a bit. Not quite as locked-in to that specific time, sound-wise, and not nearly as disposable as most of that year’s (or any year’s) hits. Also because it’s more rock-oriented than pop-oriented, and rock seems to have more staying power than pop, at least for fans and DJs, as most “pop” is considered flavor-of-the-month by Serious Music Geeks. ---
**Author:** ![Hippy\_Hollow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hippy_hollow/32/4841_2.png) [@Hippy\_Hollow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hippy_Hollow)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2007, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midnight-oils-beds-are-burning-why-so-popular/404402/22 "2007-05-17T05:42:47Z")
[QUOTE=Little Nemo] I’m just trying to figure out why a song that wasn’t all that popular when it was released has somehow managed to hang on and get played so many times in the twenty years since. [/QUOTE] I think you’re answering your own question here. You’re using Billboard’s Hot 100 as a definition of “popular.” If you accept that hip, trendy types from the 1980s who listened to college or “alternative” radio have more money now and are a coveted demographic for radio today, it makes sense that you’ll hear Modern English, Midnight Oil, and Depeche Mode on the radio, even though they didn’t necessarily have fantastic commercial success. Also, critical acclaim counts for something. It could be argued that Sly Fox’s “Let’s Go All The Way” had greater commercial success than the songs of the aforementioned bands, but we don’t hear that song very often because it was a rather ordinary pop song. ---
**Author:** ![Monstre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@Monstre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monstre)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2007, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midnight-oils-beds-are-burning-why-so-popular/404402/23 "2007-05-17T05:56:13Z")
[QUOTE=Hippy Hollow] Yeah, but chart success is only one way of recognizing a band’s imprint. I hear Modern English’s “I Melt With You” weekly on the radio, almost always on the 80s retro show. [/QUOTE] I agree. And I remember hearing several other of Midnight Oil’s songs get radio play back when I was in college. Perhaps they didn’t get up the pop charts, but they really fit more into the 80s/early-90s alternative scene. There was less from that category roaring up the pop charts, but I’d say a lot of that had more staying power than the bubble-gum pop dreck. **Little Nemo** , what kind of radio station have you been hearing “Beds Are Burning” on? I only hear it when I’m listening to Sirius satellite radio, tuned either to the 80s station, or more often to “New Wave” (playing 80s and 90s alternative, mostly). I remember several others of their songs getting regular radio play back then, including “Dead Heart” and “Blue Sky Mine”. I haven’t heard these in a long time, though. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2007, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midnight-oils-beds-are-burning-why-so-popular/404402/24 "2007-05-17T06:41:29Z")
Ok, there goes another one of those random visions… Anyone remember the original BBC _Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy_? Remember the crashed Golgafringan marketing morons at the end? _“Well it’s one of the great philosophical questions of the day, innit? Just how **do** we sleep when our beds are burning?”_ ---
**Author:** ![buns3000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c89c15/32.png) [@buns3000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buns3000)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2007, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midnight-oils-beds-are-burning-why-so-popular/404402/25 "2007-05-17T11:42:30Z")
Personally, I still find it hard to believe that people like “Beds are Burning” at all. Musically, it is so incredibly lame compared to everything Midnight Oil had done to that point. Listen to “Head Injuries”, “10, 9, 8, etc”, “Red Sails” and tell me I’m wrong. “Beds” was the turning point where MO lost their edge. They did nothing worthwhile from then on. ---
**Author:** ![Wee\_Bairn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/90db22/32.png) [@Wee\_Bairn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wee_Bairn)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2007, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midnight-oils-beds-are-burning-why-so-popular/404402/26 "2007-05-17T15:58:43Z")
It’s a good song to be sure, but perhaps its popularity is limited to the station you listen to- maybe the playlist guy is a big fan. I personally haven’t heard it in years. ---
**Author:** ![Hippy\_Hollow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hippy_hollow/32/4841_2.png) [@Hippy\_Hollow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hippy_Hollow)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2007, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midnight-oils-beds-are-burning-why-so-popular/404402/27 "2007-05-17T16:29:27Z")
[QUOTE=buns3000] Personally, I still find it hard to believe that people like “Beds are Burning” at all. Musically, it is so incredibly lame compared to everything Midnight Oil had done to that point. Listen to “Head Injuries”, “10, 9, 8, etc”, “Red Sails” and tell me I’m wrong. “Beds” was the turning point where MO lost their edge. They did nothing worthwhile from then on. [/QUOTE] Seriously? You didn’t like Blue Sky Mining? Earth and Sun and Moon? Redneck Wonderland? Breathe (a bit different from the other albums, but still great)? Capricornia was a great album to end a career. I certainly like the early stuff as well, but I think they are a band that put out a consistent product for almost 30 years! ---
**Author:** ![Wee\_Bairn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/90db22/32.png) [@Wee\_Bairn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wee_Bairn)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2007, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midnight-oils-beds-are-burning-why-so-popular/404402/28 "2007-05-17T16:38:34Z")
[QUOTE=buns3000] Personally, I still find it hard to believe that people like “Beds are Burning” at all. Musically, it is so incredibly lame compared to everything Midnight Oil had done to that point. Listen to “Head Injuries”, “10, 9, 8, etc”, “Red Sails” and tell me I’m wrong. “Beds” was the turning point where MO lost their edge. They did nothing worthwhile from then on. [/QUOTE] You gotta understand, in the US at least, you need hooks to be a big hit, and Beds are Burning is full of them. Great song with no hook, no success. Average songs, many hooks, usually big hit. And the US prefers less direct political songs. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2007, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midnight-oils-beds-are-burning-why-so-popular/404402/29 "2007-05-17T16:38:52Z")
OK, let’s try not to get into that “I’ve only ever heard one song by them, ergo, they’re a one-hit wonder”, that’s a rather well-worn fallacy. I can agree that \*Beds are Burning \* is not one of the Oils best songs. Matter of taste, I guess. In the US, they had a hit with BaB, maybe a minor one or two with something else, and a fairly sizable alt rock cult following. That’s what a lot of the folks from the States think of them. Back home in Australia, if I’m not mistaken, they were more along the lines of Bruce Springsteen in terms of popularity and fervor of fandom. They were also more popular in Europe and the UK than in the US. Essentially, what we saw of the Oils in America was only the tip of the iceberg, both in terms of output and popularity. I don’t even think they even started releasing their stuff over here until _10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1…_, their 5th(?) album. You might be able to trace the seeming overplaying of _BaB_ to that curious tendency of “Classic Rock” stations to give songs that barely cracked the top 40 back in the day heavy rotation while rarely playing some actual top 5 songs. Part of that is probably because many huge hits are sort of novelty/silly/dance craze-type hits that didn’t really stand the test of time, part of it is that some hits are too different to fit into ther narrow formatting. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2007, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midnight-oils-beds-are-burning-why-so-popular/404402/30 "2007-05-17T16:45:34Z")
Does noone remember “Truganini”? That got pretty good radio play around here. According to the Billboard charts, it made it to #4 on Modern Rock Tracks and #10 on Mainstream Rock Tracks. (Both “Blue Sky Mine” and “Forgotten Years” hit #1 on Modern Rock Tracks, and “Blue Sky Mine” also topped the Mainstream Rock chart.) If you listened to rock stations you certainly heard at least five or six Midnight Oil songs in the late 80s/early 90s. ---
**Author:** ![Hippy\_Hollow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hippy_hollow/32/4841_2.png) [@Hippy\_Hollow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hippy_Hollow)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2007, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midnight-oils-beds-are-burning-why-so-popular/404402/31 "2007-05-17T16:50:53Z")
[QUOTE=pulykamell] Does noone remember “Truganini”? That got pretty good radio play around here. According to the Billboard charts, it made it to #4 on Modern Rock Tracks and #10 on Mainstream Rock Tracks. (Both “Blue Sky Mine” and “Forgotten Years” hit #1 on Modern Rock Tracks, and “Blue Sky Mine” also topped the Mainstream Rock chart.) If you listened to rock stations you certainly heard at least five or six Midnight Oil songs in the late 80s/early 90s. [/QUOTE] _Earth and Sun and Moon_. Tons of great songs on there. Drums of Heaven, Outbreak of Love… I remember buying the album at Sound Exchange after a final exam, and I knew I’d be graduating. Great, great album. I never saw the videos for these songs on MTV; granted, I watched a lot less of it by that time. ---
**Author:** ![Wee\_Bairn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/90db22/32.png) [@Wee\_Bairn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wee_Bairn)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2007, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midnight-oils-beds-are-burning-why-so-popular/404402/32 "2007-05-17T17:22:47Z")
Peoples defintion of one hit wonder varies- some are strictly one chart hit only, some one top 40 plus other non top 40, some “only song I remember”. The latter kills me- Vanilla Ice, question his talent all you want, but a VH1 special had him as a one hit wonder. Believe or not, he had two Top 5 hits- he is NOT a one hit wonder, even if the other was qucikly forgotten. Many people only know Led Zeppelin via “Stairway” that does not make them a one hit wonder, especially since “Stairway” wasn’t by definition a hit anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2007, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midnight-oils-beds-are-burning-why-so-popular/404402/33 "2007-05-17T18:14:28Z")
[QUOTE=Wee Bairn] It’s a good song to be sure, but perhaps its popularity is limited to the station you listen to- maybe the playlist guy is a big fan. I personally haven’t heard it in years. [/QUOTE] Yeah, somebody local in radio must still be in love with Toad the Wet Sprocket. I doubt most people hear “Walk on the Ocean” quite as often as we do. ---
**Author:** ![Hippy\_Hollow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hippy_hollow/32/4841_2.png) [@Hippy\_Hollow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hippy_Hollow)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2007, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midnight-oils-beds-are-burning-why-so-popular/404402/34 "2007-05-17T18:18:42Z")
[QUOTE=Zsofia] Yeah, somebody local in radio must still be in love with Toad the Wet Sprocket. I doubt most people hear “Walk on the Ocean” quite as often as we do. [/QUOTE] All I can say is that y’all are lucky. Our stations play dreck more or less, but the “Mike” station occasionally hits a nice streak. WBOS is great for Earthfest but they’re a little too soft for me. I would love to hear Toad on the radio. Maybe not that song, though… it got played quite a bit when they were big in the 90s. ---
**Author:** ![phungi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/phungi/32/395_2.png) [@phungi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phungi)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2007, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midnight-oils-beds-are-burning-why-so-popular/404402/35 "2007-05-17T18:20:06Z")
[QUOTE=Hippy Hollow] I saw the Oils when they toured for their last album, _Capricornia_, and it was one of the greatest shows I’ve ever seen. Those guys ripped though their set like they were a bunch of teenagers, not forty-something men. If you don’t have it, go out and get their greatest hits album, _20,000 Watt R.S.L._ If you like guitar-driven indie rock this is your band! [/QUOTE] [QUOTE=woodstockbirdybird] I saw them on that tour, too (twice!), as well as on the _Diesel and Dust_ and _Blue Sky Mining_ tours… Best live band I’ve ever seen, easily… [/QUOTE] Amen to that. I saw them in the 90’s (?) with a young Ziggy Marley opening. They were touring for _Blue Sky Mining_ but opened with older songs from _Head Injuries_ and _10,9,8,7,6…_ and friggin rocked. The show was amazing and one of the best live acts I have ever seen. They always represented tremendous sense of social justice and political and social consciousness, and that likely fueled a loyal fan base. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2007, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midnight-oils-beds-are-burning-why-so-popular/404402/36 "2007-05-17T18:54:17Z")
I saw them on the D&D, Blue Sky Mining and Capricornia tours. Pretty much the best live show I’ve ever seen. Their power and dynamics are even better live than on record. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2007, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midnight-oils-beds-are-burning-why-so-popular/404402/37 "2007-05-17T19:40:10Z")
I’d have to agree with those who have pointed out that “Beds are Burning” is a much better song than most songs that charted around it in 1988. It’s lasted a long time because it’s a great song, and it’s peaking in repeated airplay right now because people are were teenagers in 1988 are starting to make serious money right now. I played a game and took the top 25 songs of 1988, according to that list: 1. “Need You Tonight,” INXS 2. “Look Away,” Chicago 3. “Roll With It,” Steve Winwood 4. “Every Rose Has Its Thorn,” Poison 5. “Got My Mind Set On You,” George Harrison 6. “So Emotional,” Whitney Houston 7. “Seasons Change,” Expose 8. “Baby I Love Your Way/Freebird Medley,” Will to Power 9. “Could’ve Been,” Tiffany 10. “Never Gonna Give You Up,” Rick Astley 11. “Sweet Child Of Mine,” Guns ‘n’ Roses 12. “Get Outta My Dreams, Get Into My Car,” Billy Ocean 13. “The Flame,” Cheap Trick 14.“Giving You The Best That I Got,” Anita Baker 14. “Waiting For A Star To Fall,” Boy Meets Girl 15. “Hands To Heaven,” Breathe 16. “How Can I Fall?” Breathe 17. “Anything For You,” Gloria Estefan & Miami Sound Machine 18. “Wishing Well,” Terence Trent D’Arby 19. “Hungry Eyes,” Eric Carmen 20. “Wild, Wild West,” Escape Club 21. “Hold On To The Nights,” Richard Marx 22. “Man In The Mirror,” Michael Jackson 23. “Love Bites,” Def Leppard 24. “Where Do Broken Hearts Go,” Whitney Houston Then I cut out all the songs in the list that are forgettable corporate pop or just plain shitty, leaving only the legitimately good ones, in my opinion: 1. “Need You Tonight,” INXS 2. “Got My Mind Set On You,” George Harrison 3. “Sweet Child Of Mine,” Guns ‘n’ Roses 4. “Wishing Well,” Terence Trent D’Arby Actually, “Wild Wild West” was a funky little song too, but that might just be me. Anyway, that’s it out of the top 25. If I went through the next 75 songs I’d probably come up with 10-15 more songs, tops. And you know what? **They’re the ones they still play on the radio.** I can’t remember the last time I heard Foreigner’s “Say You Will” or even Michael Jackson’s “Dirty Diana,” and those songs sucked. But #78, “Fast Car” by Tracy Chapman, I hear all the time, because it was good and it’s different and doesn’t sound like any other song. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2007, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midnight-oils-beds-are-burning-why-so-popular/404402/38 "2007-05-17T20:02:59Z")
[QUOTE=Chimera] _“Well it’s one of the great philosophical questions of the day, innit? Just how **do** we sleep when our beds are burning?”_ [/QUOTE] Right up there with Who Let the Dogs Out? and, apparently [What’s the Use of Getting Sober (When You’re Gonna Get Drunk Again)?](http://music.guardian.co.uk/readersrecommend/story/0,,1929631,00.html) ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2007, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midnight-oils-beds-are-burning-why-so-popular/404402/39 "2007-05-17T20:08:43Z")
All the ones you might have thought twice about eliminating just because they’re such earworms? “Wild Wild West”, “Never Gonna Give You Up”, “So Emotional”, etc? That’s what they play on the XM 90’s station. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_Rhosis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@Sir\_Rhosis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_Rhosis)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2007, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midnight-oils-beds-are-burning-why-so-popular/404402/40 "2007-05-18T00:31:10Z")
As mentioned above, it’s a combination of the catchy earwig tune and the lead singer’s spastic dancing. The visuals helped as much as anything in imprinting this song in people’s minds. Almost anybody I know, when rehearing the song, say, “Oh, it’s that song where that bald guy jerks and flaps around,” or words to that effect. Take away MTV and this song would be far far less remembered. Sir Rhosis [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midnight-oils-beds-are-burning-why-so-popular/404402.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midnight-oils-beds-are-burning-why-so-popular/404402.md?page=3)